Todays date is June 19, 2008.
I already spent hours here at the hospital on Tuesday, but what a joy, I get to have the pleasure of spending another exciting day at the hospital. 

Day of tests, here I come.

I decided to keep a journal of the days events so here we go. 

This morning at 7:00 a.m. my alarm went off.  I just barely fell asleep at 4:00 a.m.  So I am starting the day on only 3 hours of sleep.  Not good.

It is time to start "bowel prepping" for my CT scan today.



I open the fridge and see the two, seemingly HUGE bottles of Berry Smoothie Barium Sulfate.  They might as well change the name to "Barfium" sulfate.  Two 450 ml (appx. 30 fl oz.) bottles of thick, gag making, stomach turning, foul tasting fun. 

Honestly, I think the hardest thing I have had to do since having cancer is drink bottles of nasty stuff for tests.  It is SO HARD to force yourself to drink these things.


can you see how thick and yucky this stuff looks?



7:05 a.m.
I have poured 8 ounces of this delicious drink into a cup.  I stare at it for a minute or two, dreading having to drink it.  I can already taste it.  I want to gag just LOOKING at it.  

I plug my nose, tip my head back and try to chug the beverage of the day, yet I just can't get it down.  As soon as I swallow, it just wants to come back up.  I got half of the glass down  I tell myself, mind over matter, it is just a smoothie.  But I just can't seem to trick my gag reflex.
7:10 a.m.
Finished with the first glass.  I rinse my mouth and gargle to try to get the thick coating out of my mouth.  Only 3 more glasses to go. 

I am SO going to buy myself a box of chocolates for a reward for having to do this.

I set an alarm for 8:45 a.m. when it will be time for the second glass.
8:45 a.m.
I know I have to drink another glass of this stuff.  Can't do it quite yet.
8:55 a.m. 
Have to drink it.  Piano student will be here any minute.
8:57 a.m.
Okay, enough procrastination.  I HAVE to drink this NOW.
Chug, chug, chug,.  Whoops, it's coming back up.  Hold my hands over my mouth trying to keep it down.  Can't quite.  I loose some of it in the bathroom sink.  I have about an ounce of this dose left to drink.  Figure if I drink it, it will come back up, so why torture myself.  Dump the rest down the sink.  I rinse my mouth and run downstairs to teach piano.
10:00 a.m.
I just got done teaching 2 piano lessons, and my 10:00 student is here.  I don't have time to be wishy washy and take 10 minutes to drink this dose.  So I gulp it down, trying hard not to gag while my piano student is sitting in the other room.  It actually went down pretty easy.
10:05 a.m.
My stomach is gurgling and hurts.  It SO wants to expel the foul contents that are in there.
10:40 a.m.
I finish teaching lessons.  My mom is at my house, ready to take me to the hospital.  Ready, set, go.  I give all of my adorable children hugs and kisses goodbye.  The worst is almost over, I only have one more big glass to drink.
11:00 a.m.
On the way to the hospital.  We stop at a gas station so I can buy a bottle of water so I can rinse and gargle after drinking my prep.  They had these cutest little breast cancer Chevron cars, and my mom bought me one for a prize if I am brave today. 
11:05 a.m.
I drink the last dose of barium sulfate.  I drink all of the bottle except for the last inch.  I somewhat guiltily throw it away.  I figure that cheating and not drinking a little bit of it will be okay.  I should have saved it for Dan so he can have the pleasure of sampling what I had to drink.


This is a picture of a CT Machine.  I don't know the actual name of it, but for those of you who have been lucky enough to never needed one of these tests, I thought I would show you what they look like.

11:30 a.m.

We arrive at the hospital.  I get checked in at Radiology.  They take me back and I get changed into scrubs.  A nurse escorts me back to the CT machine, and hands me another glass of Barium Sulfate.  This time it was luke warm.  Hard to drink it with an audience, don't want to gag and retch.  I ask for a glass of water so I can rinse and spit after drinking.  Got it down!  NOW the worst is over.

The nurse starts an IV so they can inject me with some dye.  I climb on a narrow little tray that doesn't seem like it is sturdy enough to hold me.  At least they give me a pillow for my head, and a wedge for my legs. 

They do the first scans, which only take a couple of minutes.  The tech then injects me with the contrast.  When this goes into your system it feels like you are standing in front of a furnace.  A wave of intense heat radiates from my head to my fingers and toes.  Very uncomfortable, and I have an giant wave of nausea.  Hope I don't loose it!!!!
11:50 a.m.
All done with the CT scan.  A tech from Nuclear Med comes to inject me with some radioactive dye to prep for the bone scan.  Now why couldn't they just inject me with something for the CT scan instead of having to drink that nasty stuff?


11:55 a.m.-1:00 p.m
Now that I have been injected with a radioactive tracer something in my blood, we have to wait about 3 hours for it to travel to my bones before the actual scan can be done.

So, I get a break from tests for a little while.  My mom takes me to lunch at TGI fridays.  It felt so good to get something other than Barium sulfate in my stomach.  By the time we are done eating, I am in the bathroom sick.  Ah well..
1:15-2:45 p.m.
We have time to go to the mall.  What a bonus!!!!  I even got my box of chocolate from Sees.  I spent more time in the bathroom at the mall than I did shopping, but at least I have my chocolate to enjoy tomorrow once my stomach *hopefully* feels better.

3:00 p.m.
Time for my bone scan.  This takes about 30 minutes.  They scan to check for tumors in the bones.  I LOVE the techs at NucMed.  They are the sweetest, kindest, best employees in the whole hospital. ;o)
You lay on a table and this big machine scans your bones from head to toe.  I have been injected with some kind of nuclear tracer.  It will make "hot spots" show what is going on.  All I know is that it is a heck of a lot easier to just be injected with something instead of having to drink something.  And then to top it all off, I read online that sometimes if you have had barium recently, that it can mess up the results of the bone scan.  What I read said that I should have had the bone scan before the CT scan, but it is too late now.  I am not redoing either of those tests. 

3:40 p.m.
All done!!!!!!!!  Easy!

My sister in law Katie had a baby yesterday, so I took advantage of the fact that we were already at the hospital and went to visit.  Her baby is ADORABLE!!!!  I love holding new born babies.  Her skin was so soft, and she made the cutest noises and pulled the cutest faces while she was sleeping.  A perfect end to the day.

5:30 p.m.

We make it home, after my mom dropped me off at Dan's work so he could drive me home. I am greeted with hugs and kisses.  I insist that I am radioactive so the kids have to stay away and let me rest tonight. 

Now I just have to wait to the doctor and get results.  The waiting is almost as hard as drinking Barium Sulfate.


7/4/2008 02:01:36 am

Ah, memories!

I don't think I was able to eat anything the rest of the day after drinking that awful stuff, but I did 'de-gack' afterwards with a nice glass of chilled white wine.

Barfium sulphate indeed.

Reply
Carol Pyle
7/9/2008 02:32:35 pm

Hello Amber,
I really hope I was not reminding you of the whole "cancer" stuff by asking but I have been praying for you. I am so glad you got to go on a family vacation to Yellowstone. It sounded so wonderful...
Your family all looked so cute on the 4th with your "traditional" outfits. Why do we do that to ourselves? Shopping at 11:00 pm at Walmart just because it was "tradition". Thanks for sharing the yummy barium story. It almost made me thrown up just thinking about it. I can remember throwing just about every drop back up and I had to call and get more....It is nasty!!!! I feel your pain!!!
Keep the Faith!
Love, Carol

Reply
5/11/2012 12:27:38 pm

saddsadsa

Reply
dou321a
5/13/2012 06:33:12 pm

[b]coach[/b] 1/n American fashion brand COACH with its leather bag is [b][url=http://www.oakleysunglassesoutletcom.com/]oakley sunglasses outlet[/url][b] known, the quarter is found in colorful paintings of [b][url=http://www.oakleysunglassesoutletcom.com/]cheap oakley sunglasses[/url][b] famous London artist James Nares partner to launch a [b][url=http://www.coachwalletsonsales.com/]coach crossbody bag outlet[/url][b] limited edition handbag,5 of his painting brush painting [b][url=http://www.coachwalletsonsales.com/]coach wallets on sale[/url][b] works as a series of luxury handbags symbolic element. This [b][url=http://www.coachwalletsonsales.com/]authentic coach outlet online[/url][b] handbag from Italy double layer made of canvas, black, blue [b][url=http://www.coachwalletsonsales.com/]coach outlet coupon[/url][b] , green, pink and orange in five colors, each color in the global [b][url=http://www.coachwalletsonsales.com/]the lexi satchel coach factory[/url][b] production only100, each handbag are marked with numbers and with [b][url=http://www.oakleysunglassesoutletcom.com/]oakley frogskin sunglasses[/url][b] James Signature Leather cards. Coach X James Nares handbags in May [b][url=http://www.coachwalletsonsales.com/]coach wallets[/url][b] of this year will be in the Coach store and Coach official website [b][url=http://www.coachwalletsonsales.com/]coach diaper bag outlet[/url][b] official release, each of which sold for $798( about 5000 yuan). [b][url=http://www.coachwalletsonsales.com/]coach outlet[/url][b] [b][url=http://www.oakleysunglassesoutletcom.com/]oakley sunglases sale[/url][b] [b][url=http://www.coachwalletsonsales.com/]coach outlet online[/url][b]

Reply
dou321a
5/15/2012 12:04:26 pm

[b]longchamp[/b] 1/n The world famous French famous [b][url=http://www.longchampsingaporeoutlets.com/]longchamp outlet[/url][b] leather goods brand Longchamp [b][url=http://www.cheapbeatsbydrevip.net/]cheap beats by dre[/url][b] ( Longchamp ), launched 2012new [b][url=http://www.longchampsingaporeoutlets.com/]cheap longchamp bags[/url][b] spring and summer bag. Unlike those [b][url=http://www.cheapbeatsbydrevip.net/]cheap dr dre beats[/url][b] luxury brand, Longchamp ( Longchamp [b][url=http://www.longchampsingaporeoutlets.com/]longchamp singapore outlet[/url][b] ) with simple atmospheric elegant design [b][url=http://www.longchampsingaporeoutlets.com/]longchmap online[/url][b] and modest price gained many fans, spring [b][url=http://www.cheapbeatsbydrevip.net/]cheap dre beats[/url][b] / summer 2012Longchamp ( Longchamp ) bag, [b][url=http://www.cheapbeatsbydrevip.net/]dre beats outlet[/url][b] adherence to fashion and practical characteristics [b][url=http://www.longchampsingaporeoutlets.com/]longchamp singapore[/url][b] , continue in the leather industry to gallop. [b][url=http://www.longchampsingaporeoutlets.com/]longchamp outlet online[/url][b] [b][url=http://www.cheapbeatsbydrevip.net/]cheap beats headphones[/url][b] [b][url=http://www.cheapbeatsbydrevip.net/]dr dre beats[/url][b] [b][url=http://www.longchampsingaporeoutlets.com/]cheap longchamp[/url][b] [b][url=http://www.cheapbeatsbydrevip.net/]beats headphones[/url][b]

Reply
5/24/2012 11:32:21 am

dsadadsaasddsdsadsadsadsasda

Reply
7/31/2012 04:39:05 pm

wow, i mean if they were going that route, i think they would have opted to make a female doll! I was a little surprised when that flap was dropped! haha.

Reply
8/10/2012 05:24:19 pm

--!@zhanping A coach outlet is a store that specializes in reselling the products of a company.

Reply
8/16/2012 07:26:07 pm

Do you already know about the Chanel Handbags? Have you been coach outlet acquainted with probably Chanel Bags the most beautiful and revolutionary Coach Factory Outlet? If not, then allow us inform you louis vuitton outlet dears they are undoubtedly coach outlet store among probably the most prestigious sorts of Chanel Purses purses in the around the earth Michael Kors Purses market today. When we talk about the women's beauty, Chanel 2012 would stand among probably the most effective coach outlet store online purses indisputably. They are beautifulCoach Factory Outlet Online, ground-breakingMichael Kors Bags, lovingcoach handbags , and caring Louis Vuitton Outlet Online purses at all.

Reply
8/21/2012 01:38:24 pm

I would love to bookmark your blog as there are very interesting and encouraging articles!

Reply
8/21/2012 01:38:44 pm

Wow, these are awesome resources, thanks for sharing!

Reply
9/3/2012 04:32:37 pm

Usually, they do not give problems to the affected person, but as the size of the deposit increases or become sore, they will surely give serious pain. The following are the frequently asked questions and answers that can help explain the concept of calcium deposits.

Reply



Leave a Reply.